As Lead Matte Painter, I was responsible for all 360° environment matte paintings for the film Stitch Head. Working closely with director Steve Hudson and art director Stephane Lecocq, I first developed atmospheric concept paintings for all hero shots to visually define lighting and color moods as well as sky and cloud designs – in keeping with the emotional and stylistic world of Stitch Head.

A special focus was placed on developing an innovative 360° matte painting workflow. The original plan was to create around 12 complete environment spheres that would cover all scenes independently of shot-based matte paintings. However, in reality, it became apparent during production that many scenes required individual image compositions. This presented the challenge of developing shot-based matte paintings that could be seamlessly integrated into the existing 360° worlds. Unreal Engine was the central tool for layout, lighting, and fast iterative work—especially for developing agile, visually consistent shots.